Now Some, technically used, does not mean Some only, but Some at least (it may be one, or more, or all).  If it meant ‘Some only,’ every particular proposition would be an exclusive exponible (chap. ii.  Sec. 3); since Only some men are wise implies that Some men are not wise.  Besides, it may often happen in an investigation that all the instances we have observed come under a certain rule, though we do not yet feel justified in regarding the rule as universal; and this situation is exactly met by the expression Some (it may be all).

The words Many, Most, Few are generally interpreted to mean Some; but as Most signifies that exceptions are known, and Few that the exceptions are the more numerous, propositions thus predesignate are in fact exponibles, mounting to Some are and Some are not.  If to work with both forms be too cumbrous, so that we must choose one, apparently Few are should be treated as Some are not.  The scientific course to adopt with propositions predesignate by Most or Few, is to collect statistics and determine the percentage; thus, Few men are wise—­say 2 per cent.

The Quantity of a proposition, then, is usually determined entirely by the quantity of the subject, whether all or some.  Still, the quantity of the predicate is often an important consideration; and though in ordinary usage the predicate is seldom predesignate, Logicians agree that in every Negative Proposition (see Sec. 2) the predicate is ‘distributed,’ that is to say, is denied altogether of the subject, and that this is involved in the form of denial.  To say Some men are not brave, is to declare that the quality for which men may be called brave is not found in any of the Some men referred to:  and to say No men are proof against flattery, cuts off the being ‘proof against flattery’ entirely from the list of human attributes.  On the other hand, every Affirmative Proposition is regarded as having an undistributed predicate; that is to say, its predicate is not affirmed exclusively of the subject. Some men are wise does not mean that ‘wise’ cannot be predicated of any other beings; it is equivalent to Some men are wise (whoever else may be).  And All elephants are sagacious does not limit sagacity to elephants:  regarding ‘sagacious’ as possibly denoting many animals of many species that exhibit the quality, this proposition is equivalent to ‘All elephants are some sagacious animals.’  The affirmative predication of a quality does not imply exclusive possession of it as denial implies its complete absence; and, therefore, to regard the predicate of an affirmative proposition as distributed would be to go beyond the evidence and to take for granted what had never been alleged.